This is a learning process!
Video: Antarctic Trip
Post written: Raleigh, NC
October 13 to November 4, 2022
March 23, 2023
Blogger’s note
It’s a long road. But hey, I’m having fun! I looked at many of the still images taken by friends on our trip to Antarctica last year. WOW! They’ve been impressive. Many times I’ve kicked myself for not even picking up the beautiful still camera I had with me. Many times I’ve wondered if all the difficulties I’ve encountered have been worth it. Now I’m finally gaining confidence. These four videos are my new starting point – four glimpses of Antarctica that I hope demonstrate that I’m on the right track. I’m now excited – I have something to show!
Each of these brief videos is a self-assignment – a learning exercise. Please comment. This is a time for me to listen. I remember in art school each week we pinned 3 or 4 black & white prints to the board and listened as classmates commented. The feedback is a vital part of the learning process. Comments from my last two video posts have guided the creation of the videos in this post. Now your responses will help me as I begin a push to script and assemble more glimpses. Thanks!
Getting started: one place on earth
The last wilderness remaining on earth. Antarctica is a huge contintent with no country and no people. There are no permanent residents living in Antarctica.
(Video link: Click on the arrow to start the video. You can watch fullscreen by clicking on the small box in the lower righthand corner – if you watch fullscreen, you may have to press [esc] to return to the blog post. The original 4K video looks wonderful on a high quality monitor – but after processing for online delivery, it looks not-so-good.)
A curious leopard seal
Three zodiacs filled with excited photographers. This leopard seal (an apex predator in the Antarctic Ocean) played with us for almost an hour, surfacing, diving, swimming under the rafts and coming up to look us over. Again and again …
Snowy sheathbills mating dance
Wading through the snow, in a snowstorm, in Antarctica – sometimes you are in the right place at the right time. Enthralling!
King penguins courting
To me, this one video made all the effort worth it!
And there’s more to come!
Fascinating and beautiful! I think the leopard seal was spitting at you! Love the birds and penguins. Are they different than the emperor penguins they made a movie about? Magnificent birds! Don’t feel cmpete t to comment on the videography but loved watching!
THANKS Sandy – And you are definitely competent! I can’t tell you how much I value your “Fascinating and beautiful!” After appreciating your quilts, I am so happy to read your response.
Yes, my video is of king penguins – they are smaller and somewhat more colorful than emperor penguins. We searched for emperor but never did see any. Maybe next trip!!! (Ha Ha! I paid more for that trip than Robin and I paid for our first house – I won’t be doing that again!) Cheers, – barry
Competent.
Wow Barry, these are wonderful. Especially like the penguins. You seem to have caught some empathy and emotion, or maybe just my own anthropomorphism. In any. Are, love these.
HI Bill – I have to admit that one reason I put up those videos is that I was tired of hearing Janice telling me how great your photographs are and why didn’t I take some still images too!!!
Thanks! – barry
Wow what a great experience you must’ve had! Those were some HUGE seals. I would’ve been afraid they’d knock the boat over, haha.
Hi Hope! Actually, the leopard seal is an apex predator and has been known to attack zodiacs. Their teeth can bite through the rubber inflated tubes sinking the boat. That water is cold! But ours just played with us. He’d swim under the boat and surface on the other side. At one point you can hear all the photographers shift sides to try to catch another shot. Yep, Great trip! THANKS, – barry
Oh MY Goodness Barry! The leopard seal did play with you all in the zodiac and the best part was the very end when you got to briefly see the eyes of that beautiful seal! I am surprised at the large size of that leopard seal. Love the King Penguins! They would be the main reason for me to go to the anarctic! I so admire the colorful “S” curves of this bird. My absolute favorite video is the mating dance of the Snowy Sheathbills in the driving snow. The birds involved with their mating dance seem oblivious to the wind blown snow! Natures’ Natural Drive!?!Great Job! Congratulations on getting to go on such a wonderful trip!
Thanks Barbara! The whole experience was incredible. I’ve seen so many incredible still images from the trip – I think you’d love it! I’m enjoying the video making now. Going to head to Florida for Bird Fest with Rob Tiller. I need a lot more practice!!
Enjoy! – barry
That seal is immense. Of course I like the birds best. The falling snow is beautiful with the white birds creating a white negative. And I can just hear that emperor penguin saying just a little lower and it’ll be perfect.
I was raised on Disney wildlife films and David Attenborough bird videos. Maybe you should consider a voiceover telling us about the scenes. This leopard seal probably weighed 1000 pounds and is the primary predator of penguins. Emperor penguins mate for life and raise one chick every year if they’re lucky. Etc.
Hi Guy – Thanks, it’s a good idea to add voiceovers and I think I will start. Trying to follow that leopard seal as he surfaced, dove under the boat, and resurfaced – over and over again was an incredible experience. Our drivers were a bit leary – the seals have been know to try to bite the zodiac tubes! But he was just playing with us.
I will note that it was a king penguin – they are a bit smaller and the coloring is brighter and more intense. We looked but we never found any emperor penguins. Next trip maybe! Cheers, – barry
Barry,
Rule of thumb. It talks one hour of editing to produce one minute of video.
Edit out the parts of the clips that say nothing – e.g. swinging the camera to the next shot, etc.
Music! It adds so much to the presentation.
Still photos make great videos. Here is a link to a video I did which contains nothing but still photos: https://youtu.be/EwPmbhNmro0
Add narration to explain what is happening.
Use post processing stabalization to eliminate the camera shakes – hard to use a tripod in a zodiac!
I was a member of Toastmasters, and we used evaluations (brutal at times) to help make ourselves better public speakers. Honest evaluations are invaluable.
Looking forward to seeing your next productions.
Norm
Wow Norm! I really appreciate the comments – very helpful. I’m trying to learn one skill at a time so aside from your editing hints, I think I’m going to focus on some voice over narration next. That sounds like a great suggestion! THANKS – Barry
You’ve had quite a life Barry! Loved the videos. Amazing you made it to Antartica.
Glimpses of Antarctica.
Antarctica: The one place on earth dedicated to Peace and Science. Here is where dramatic music could have been added. There are many DVDs you can purchase that have music for videos that have been placed in the public domain and can be used on your videos without violating copyright laws..
A curious leopard seal: Edit out the parts of the clip where the camera is only showing the bottom of the zodiac. Great close-up at the end. And the breathing of the seal was outstanding. Up the volume to enhance the effect. Short is better. Cut out the repetitious parts of this clip and it will have more impact. Narration helps. I loaned my camera to a lady who did a two week horse pack trip into the Bob Marshall wilderness. She talked as she filmed some of the clips and the results were outstanding, e.g. her horse started to turn to follow another pack train coming the other way, “Higgins, we’re not going that way!” etc.
Snowy sheathbills mating dance. Up the volume. I increased the volume to the max in my headphones and the sound of the breaking of the waves was wonderful – but I had to remember to turn it back to normal to avoid losing my hearing when something else played!
King penguins courting. Zoom in at beginning too abrupt. Just cut it out. Great penguin sounds but hard to hear. The hardest part of making a video is getting good audio. Audio editing software can help, but nothing beats a good microphone close to the action. There is nothing wrong with recording the penguin sounds where you are right in the thick of a large group, and then placing that audio track under a video track such as this one where you could use the penguin audio.
I live in the boonies and have a slow internet connection 5 Mbps download. The video quality of the King Penguins Courting was better than some of the other segments, but for me, it buffered (halted) and I had to wait for 20 seconds for my connection to catch up. Most people have faster connections, but this is the best I can get here outside Orfordville, WI. So I render my videos as mp4 files at 720p. They play fine over a 5 Mbps connection. They buffer a lot when I render them a 1080P. You are correct, that if you have a 4K video on a memory stick, it is outstanding on a large flat screen. If I’m making a DVD, I render to an NTSC format that plays well on most video players.
You said you kicked yourself for not having picked up the still camera – relying entirely on the video camera in Antarctica. This is why I shoot in situations like these with my Canon PowerShot, which is a point and shoot that also records outstanding video and the audio is good as well. And the thing is smaller than a deck of cards.